Minicraft 1/144 Ju 88A Kit First Look

First Look

The RLM issued a requirement for a high speed bomber in the mid-1930s. Junkers submitted a design from which several prototypes were produced. The first examples were powered by two Daimler Benz DB 600 engines each, followed by further test articles powered by the Jumo 211. Jumo power was selected for the production variants of the Ju 88 and the engineering team worked out a number of teething problems with the aircraft.

The first production version was the Ju 88A series that was configured as a bomber. The Ju 88C series was the night fighter/fighter-bomber version. The Ju 88D series was configured for long-range reconnaissance. The Ju 88B introduced a new nose that led to the parallel development of the Ju 188. The Ju 88G was a night fighter that was based upon the longer fuselage of the Ju 188. The Ju 88H was a reconnaissance platform also based upon the longer Ju 188 fuselage. The Ju 88P was a cannon-armed tank hunter. The Ju 88S and Ju 88T were the final versions with the long fuselage and higher performance engines.

Minicraft has released the nice 1/144 Crown kit of the Ju 88A bomber. This kit is molded in light gray styrene and presented on two parts trees, plus separately packaged clear parts for the cockpit cover and nose dome. The molds are in good shape with no signs of flash on this example so build-up should be straightforward.

Among the highlights of this kit:

Choice of gear-up and gear down

Spinners with or without propeller blades (to simulate the appearance of running engines

External bomb load

The kit doesn't provide an interior so build-up of this will go faster, but you'll want to decide how to paint the blanked-out interior plates (black, dark blue, whatever).

Profiles are provided for two examples:

Ju 88A, 7./KG 51, 9K+CL, Luftwaffe, 1942

Ju 88A, 102/1 Bomb Sqn, B-1+49, Hungarian AF, 1944

This is a simple kit that will provide a nice addition to your 1/144 scale flightline.

My sincere thanks to Minicraft Models for this review sample!

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